In the Blood
by Sandalaris
Summary: Three one-shots. Gora, Dasey, and Lizwin. No matter how hard they fight, how they try to out smart it, it’s in their blood.
1. Will

Chapter One: Will

Chapter One: Will

_A/N: Kind of fluffy. Just a cute little chapter._

When Nora met George, she thought he was immature and goofy, but he was being himself, a refreshing change to the other blind dates she'd had, that much she could see. So she agreed to go out with him again. It wasn't that much of a stretch, he was cute, and he made her laugh, plus something in him called to her, as cheesy as it sounded, but she liked him almost instantly, not love at first sight, but definitely some kind of curiosity to find out more, to see him more, for just more.

She gave in.

Nora fell in love. She fell willingly, giving into it, whatever _it_ was, that drew her to him. It happened quickly, so quickly, that she knew she should be scared, should slow down, and when she was away from him, she knew this, tried to slow to down, told herself that the next time she saw him, she would, but then in would walk George and it didn't seem like it was so bad, like maybe they weren't moving as fast as she thought they were, or that it just didn't matter. She loved him and he loved her, and that was all that mattered.

Three months later and he was asking the question, the one most men wait at least a year to ask. "Maybe we should get married?" It was random, out of the blue, and so… George-like.

"What?" She stared at him in shock, looking up from the movie they were watching.

He gave a kind of half shrug, one arm still slung behind her back making it a bit awkward. "Why not? I love you, you love me. Let's get married."

Logically, Nora knew there was a reason "why not" to marry George, but there was that tug again, the one that made her accept a second date, the one that made her forget about the speed they were going, the one that made her spend the night instead of going home like she planned. That tug in her heart, that ran through her very veins, telling her to give in.

"Ok." And so she did.

He looked kind of surprised, like he hadn't been sure how she'd react, and exactly been expecting a "yes" but then a huge grin broke out on his face. "Really?"

"Yeah," she replied, her own face splitting into a grin and a small laugh of excitement escaping her.

She was going to do it, she was going to marry George, she knew she should feel fear, dread about what her daughters, more Casey than Lizzie, was going to say, how they would react, and caution on how fast they were (still) moving. But she couldn't bring herself to really dwell on any of those things, she just looked at the man she was leaning against, the man she was going to marry, and couldn't feel anything but a happy excitement.


	2. Fight

Chapter Two: Fight

_A/N: Kind of angsty, but hey, it works. Oh and in case you were wondering Derek and Casey are about 17-18, but by the end, they're both 20. I almost made them all their own little stories, but oh well, it's too late now._

When Casey met Derek, she knew he was an annoying jerk. He was loud and obnoxious and drove her up the wall. And that was what bugged her most, that fact that he did bug her. She was supposed to take the high road, be the mature responsible one and ignore his antics, but then he'd do something, look at her funny, play a prank, say something irritating and she'd find herself loosing all that careful cool, maturity that she prided herself on.

She couldn't stop it either, stop going to him with her problems, stop trying to get back at him, stop letting him affect her. It was like there was this pull in her very veins, drawing her to him that wanted her to give in, to laugh at his jokes, to admit that yeah, Derek was right sometimes, to push their fights just a little further and see what happened, and to acknowledge that yes, sometimes it was fun to "live a little dangerously," but she couldn't give in. Not to Derek. So she fought, they fought, because she knew he felt it to, that pull, desire, to just push everything just a touch farther, to go just that one step too far and to cross that stupid line. Casey couldn't though, because she knew that was what he wanted, he wanted her to be the first to cross it; to move things from what they were to, whatever it was that was beyond. Her pride wouldn't let that happen, wouldn't let Derek win; wouldn't let the boy who claimed to always get what he wanted, actually get what he wanted, not this time.

They were fighting, although she couldn't even be sure over what anymore, they were just yelling, not really bothering to think about what was being said, or what the other was saying. She was moving closer to him, being pulled in by him, as he was to her, something that only happened when she, he, they were loosing control. She should stop this, but he was yelling, and she was so-ugh, and then he smirked and all she wanted-grrr- and then he-ahhh. It was all so- and he was just- and she- and then… they were doing something. She wasn't sure it could be considered kissing; it was too painful, too violent. It was more of just a press of his mouth to hers, a different type of fight, a new way to battle for control.

They didn't pull away gasping or staring in awe, they just both stopped, like they knew that it was done. They had crossed that line, and both had the same look, the one that said, "Oh, so this is what's on the other side." They could, would go on fighting it, go on with the insults and ignore this… whatever it was, but they had crossed that forbidden line, the one both had pushed the other towards, and now they couldn't go back. Derek knew it, Casey knew it. It was impossible. The pull wouldn't go away, and she had failed once, failed to go against it, failed to keep herself safe from it, and this is the price she paid. Tangled with a man-boy?-that she could barely stand to be in the same room as without fighting with, and with no escape from him. They hadn't fought hard enough, hadn't kept away like they should have, but they were both so stubborn, so bull headed that they would continue to fight, to try and stop the slow steady decline they were on.

She wouldn't give in.

Casey fell in love, and she fought the whole way down. Every encounter, ever whisper in the dark, she fought harder to stop the pull of her body to him, to resist. It didn't work, she knew it wouldn't, but she had always been stubborn and so she tried. She tried until she was too exhausted to fight anymore, to pretend it all meant nothing.

Two years later, she was asking the question, the one most people get to within the first few weeks. "Derek?" she whispered to him.

"Hmmm." He was half asleep, the clock beside him reading 2am casting a harsh red light on the skin of his back.

"What are we?"

He looked at her then, peering at her from under his arm before giving a half-hearted shrug. He had stopped fighting it,whatever _it_ was, about three months before. "I guess we're kind of…a couple." She nodded once, it made since. Neither of them dated anyone else, hadn't for at least a year, and she spent more time at his apartment than she did in her own.

"Yeah, I guess we are."

She stopped fighting after that. What was the point? She had lost. She had given in. In the dark, Casey cuddled closer to him, allowing her body to relax completely against him, and for the first time in since they started this felt content.

_A/N: Not sure I like the ending. It'll have to do though. Reviews make me post faster. _


	3. Plan

Chapter Three: Plan

_A/N: Lizzie's about 17 here and Edwin's around 18. Sorry if this one's a bit longer, but this was the one that I had originally thought of, and the other two where just a product of the idea of this one._

* * *

When Lizzie met Edwin she thought he was odd and kind of funny. He was little corky, prone to be a bit over dramatic, but she grew up with Casey, so she could deal with it and she liked him. Sure he could be annoying at times, and he listened to Derek way too much for his own good, but in general he was ok.

Lizzie had been unsure when they'd first moved in, not of Edwin, but of everything. She couldn't understand how her practical, logical mother, the one who refused to get into any sort of serious relationship with a man without dragging both her daughters into it and getting their approval and permission, could run off and get married after only three months. She liked George, really she did, but before she actually met him, she couldn't help but wonder who this George Venturi guy was that he could make her mother act so… irresponsible, to move her and her two daughters into entirely different life just to be with him.

She was ok now, she may not have understood, but she could deal. It was just an adult thing she reasoned.

It didn't take long for her and Edwin to become friends, for them to develop a bond. They plotted, they schemed, they brainstormed money making ideas, and they negotiated for Derek and Casey when things got too rough. He very quickly became her best friend.

It was surprising, or rather not, since Edwin's research had shown that it was leading to this, when they witnessed the first kiss of their elder siblings in the living room, both of them gathering information, aka spying, at the top of the stairs. It hadn't really bothered either of them at first, it had been so obvious that things between Derek and Casey were building to something like that, but then one day Edwin had snuck into her room, eyes wide with panic, clutching their "Dasey File" to his chest.

"Lizzie," he hissed into the dark, knowing she wasn't quite asleep yet.

"What?" she murmured aggravated that he was keeping her from her dreams.

"We have a problem. Look." He hopped on her bed, not even giving her a chance to react to what he said before she found the "Dasey File" open and in her lap, two charts side by side.

"Edwin," she said, her patience wearing thin, "what exactly am I looking at?"

"That," he said, pointing to the chart on the loose sheet of paper, "is the progress of my dad and your mom." She raised an eyebrow, not knowing his "researching" went that far back. "I just drew it up from what I remember and what little notes I did take while they were dating," he added quickly seeing the look on her face. "And this one is Derek and Casey's."

"Okay, and?"

He gave her an incredulous look. "And, don't you see the pattern?" She looked again. Her mom's and George's chart went up rather fast, going from "just met" to "madly in love" to "married" all within a short distance. Derek and Casey's however went from "just met" to "intense fighting" rather quickly. They didn't reach "madly in love" until almost two years after a dot on the chart in which you could just barely decipher the words "first kiss" in Edwin's messy scrawl, and they reached "engaged" just six months after that.

"No," she answered honestly. "Edwin," she sighed, noticing what he meant at last. "There's a humongous time difference here. Mom and George got married in just over three months from the time they met, it took Derek and Casey two and half years from their first kiss just to get to engaged."

"But they were fighting." He looked at her like he just disproved all of what she said, but by the stare she was giving him, he knew she still didn't get it. "They were fighting to _not _fall in love. Dad and Nora didn't. They just met and fell in love. Derek and Casey fought; even after that first kiss they still fought it. Come on Liz, you and I talked about this." They had, it was a rather long and humorous conversation about how they wished both of their stubborn siblings would just give in already, because they were just causing each other pain doing it their way. "If they hadn't fought it so hard, they probably would have gotten together when they met, and you and I would be an aunt and uncle by now." She gave him a disbelieving look, Casey was responsible, no way would she allow herself to be a mother barely into her twenties. But she could see his point. Casey and Derek had fought it; they hadn't given in easily, not like George and her mom.

"Ok, so what's the big emergency?" Lizzie asked, still not seeing his point.

"Well, if everything keeps going, you know," and he suddenly seemed a bit nervous, "we're next."

Lizzie just looked at him, allowing his words to sink in. She wanted to ask him how he knew that, what could possibly make him think that, but she knew what. She could clearly see the pages and pages of research they had done, could see the pattern of both their parents' relationship and Derek and Casey's, and her and Edwin _were_ at risk. If they followed in their elder's footsteps, if history repeated itself- she didn't want to think about it. They looked at each other with horror filled eyes. Briefly Lizzie thought that maybe she should be offended that Edwin didn't want to be with her, but one look at his face and knew that it reflected her thoughts, it wasn't the thought of being with her that brought on such terror, because she could easily see spending the rest of her life with him, but it was the thought of no choice. What would be the point of crushes, of dating if she had met "the one" at the age of eleven? No, it couldn't happen. She couldn't have her life just set in stone like that.

"We have to stop it," she said suddenly, breaking away from his panicked gaze. "We'll, we'll fight it," she winced after she said it, remembering the two years of pure hell her sister went through with her and Derek trying to fight _it_. "Or we'll make a plan. We're good at that. Creating some kind of scheme, a way to keep us from…" she couldn't finish that thought.

Edwin took a deep breath, letting it out quickly, face resolved. "Ok. Where do we start?"

"Well, we could start with if we ever feel, you know, an attraction, we'll just," she paused her eyes searching her room for the answer, "find someone else and flirt with them; someone attractive. And we'll avoid each other that day, not completely 'cause that would be obvious and weird, but just kind of keep to ourselves more."

He nodded, pulling out a blank notebook from the back of the binder and began taking notes, drawing out their plan of action. They talked well into the night, coming up with different way to _not_ fall for the other until they had pages and pages full of what they thought was a fool-proof plan.

They each only got about three hours of sleep that night, but it was worth it. Their plan worked… for a little while at least.

She wasn't sure when she gave in.

Lizzie was in love, and she hated every stinking minute of it. This wasn't suppose to happen, they had a plan, but it hadn't worked, well at least not for her, and that's what terrified her the most, that whatever curse seemed to be on their family, it had apparently affected her, but not Edwin. He was calm and collected, well, as calm as Ed ever really got, he was trying this "I'm so cool, look how I don't care thing" for the past couple of months which only made him seem even more odd, and she was a nervous wreck. She could barely look him the eye without risking a sappy smile. She had tried everything, but it was too late, she had failed.

So she found herself hiding in the game closet, _their _game closet, during her eighteenth birthday party, trying desperately to avoid Edwin. She just couldn't handle him, this, them, not today. She was supposed to be happy, but she wasn't sure if she could hide her feelings if she let her guard down enough to actually enjoy her party.

The door opened and Lizzie looked up seeing the one person she was trying to avoid. "Hey, what are you doing in here? You're missing Morgan trying to pull out every one of Nora's hair." Her heart sped up, and she could feel the tug of her blood in her veins, begging her to move closer to him, to give in.

"Just needed to get away for a minute," she lied. He nodded but instead of leaving, going back to see if their three month old niece was successful, like she had thought he would, he stepped in, closing the door behind him and turning on the over head light. There was an awkward silence, at least from her end. Edwin seemed unfazed although he kept up his trying to act cool thing he'd picked up, but there was a bit of concern in his eyes as he gazed at his best friend's frightened face.

"Wha-"

But she cut him off. "I didn't work," she hissed. He opened his mouth, preparing to ask "What?" when she forged ahead. "The plan," she clarified, "It didn't work." He just continued to stare at her, confusion clearly written on his face. Lizzie looked him square in the eye, leaning forward until their faces were just a few inches from each other, which wasn't that far (she'd swear that their closet had gotten smaller.) "I really really like you," she whispered, not willing to say it was anything more out loud. She heard his breath hitch. She didn't care that she wasn't following the plan anymore, that she was throwing all their hard work out the window in one instant of weakness. Screw the plan. Besides Mom and George, Derek and Casey, they were happy, why couldn't they be together too?

There was wonderment in Edwin's eyes, and an undeniable excitement. He leaned forward slightly, leaving just a breath of space between his mouth and her's, before whispering, "You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that." Lizzie closed the space between them quickly. It was sweet and kind of desperate, and just a touch uncomfortable until they got their rhythm down, but neither cared, it was what they wanted, what they'd both been waiting for. This felt right.

She knew that plan was stupid.

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_A/N: Oh, look at that, I've figured out how to add a line. Yay me! In case you were wondering, Edwin was trying to act all cool to win over Lizzie. He gave into his feelings before Lizzie did. I think it's a Venturi quality, the lack of a will to fight something for too long, that's why I made both Derek and Edwin give in before Casey and Lizzie. George didn't have to fight, he had it easy. I don't my lack of reviews; they make me think you guys don't like my stories. *pouts* Make a poor girl happy and press the button. Please. XD_


End file.
